Reversible boat.



T. H. GASKIN.

REVERSIBLE BOAT.

APPLICATION man JULY so. 1915.

1 1 60,062. Patented Nov. 9, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

Thomas Her er] Gaskin ATTORNEYS COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPM C0.,\VASHINGTON. D. C.

T. H. GASKIN.

REVERSIBLE BOAT.

APPLICATION man JULY so. 1915.

1,1 60,062. Patented Nov. 9, 1915.

j: 2 SHEETSSHEET 2- g=== il m .d

59 INVENTOR Thomas Herberf Gaskm ATTORNEYS COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH CO.,WASHINOTON. D. c.

THOMAS HERBERT GASKIN, OF WOODFORD, ESSEX, ENGLAND.

REVERSIBLE BOAT.

Application filed July 30, 1915.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, THOMAS HERBERT Gas- KIN, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and resident of l/Vellington Villa, Grove Road, VVoodford, Essex, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Reversible Boats, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in what may be termed reversible boats (or pontoons) adapted for being carried on shipboard and capable of being used in place of the ordinary life-boats with which oceangoing vessels are as a rule provided. Such a reversible boat comprises a buoyancy-chamber extending around its periphery, and a deck placed about midway of the depth of the boat as a whole so as to divide the structure into approximately equal halves each of which, when turned uppermost, presents a well with thwarts and other fittings so as to be capable of serving for the accommodation of passengers. In the deck are at least two holes leading into upright vent-tubes which respectively extend in opposite directions from the deck, each tube being of a length suflicient to reach well above the level of the water when the boat is afloat and that tube extends upward from the deck. Each vent-tube is furnished with a valve adapted on the one hand, when the boat is afloat and that tube extends upward, to open upward so as to permit the escape, from beneath the deck, of the air which would otherwise be confined under pressure within the well of what is then the inverted half of the boat, and adapted on the other hand, when the boat is afloat and that tube extends downward, to close upward so as to prevent ingress of water by way of the tube to what is then the upwardly-presented well of the boat.

Heretofore the valves have been placed at the outer or thwart ends of the vent-tubes, each valve closing inwardly with reference to its own tube. In consequence of this arrangement, each vent-tube which for the time being extends downward, and whose valve is required to close so as to exclude water, has had its valve situated at the submerged and inaccessible lower end of the tube, the valve itself acting only automatically. Hence, in the event of this valve leaking, or failing to close with sullicient promptitude against an upward surge of water (as for example when the boat dips in a seaway) the deck is liable to become flood- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 9, 1915.

Serial No. 42,720.

ed in consequence of the water being permitted to rise through the tube (whose upper end is flush with the deck). Considerable inconvenience is apt to be thus caused, for the reason that any water which happens to gain access to the well of the boat is unable to escape therefrom until (on the boat subsequently rising) the upward pressure tending to close the valve is relieved and the water consequently becomes free to drain away.

According to the present invention the defeet just mentioned is remedied by placing each valve at the inner or deck end of the vent-tube to which it appertains, and providing means for enabling the valve to be closed positively, at will. As a result of this arrangement, on the one hand, each valve when appertaining to a tube which extends downward from the deck, if required to close upward, may be held securely shut so as to obviate any risk of the well of the boat be-. coming flooded, and on the other hand, each valve when appertaining to a tube which extends upward from the deck, if required to open upward, may be left free to open automatically so as to allow the escape of air from beneath the deck as before. In addition, means are provided whereby, in the event of the boat being inverted after the upwardly-opening valves have been positively shut, the air which would now form a cushion beneath the deck may be allowed to escape.

In the accompanying drawings, Figures 1 and 2 are plan views of the so-called upper and lower halves respectively of a reversible boat showing the positions of the vent-tubes. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the boat, the socalled upper half being uppermost. Fig. 4L is a midship cross-section of the same. Fig. 5 is a part cross-section of the boat at one of the thwarts whereat a pair of oppositelyextending vent-tubes are situated, showing to a larger scale the details of the vent-tubes, valves, and associated parts. Fig. 6 is a plan view, in section on line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

In the example illustrated in the drawings, the boat, although vertically reversible, has so-called upper and lower halves which are not identical with one another as regards shape. That is to say, on the one hand the so-called upper half A, which is intended for use when the boat is employed in normal conditions, is shaped so as to present (more especially above the water-line) the appearance of an ordinary ships-boat, being made comparatively wide at the gunwale 11, and having a shear, or upward curvature in the length of its gunwale toward the stem 12 and stern 13. On the other hand the socalled lower half B, which is intended for use only in the event of the boat being accidentally inverted, is made comparatively narrow at the gunwale 14, which extends level from stem to stern. In consequence of this arrangement the boat, when the half A is uppermost, resembles an ordinary ships boat with a flat and upwardlyrecessed bottom. In addition, the deck 15 is preferably (as indicated in the drawings) so placed as to provide a slightly greater depth of well toward the upper side A than toward the lower side 13.

Both the upper and lower halves A and B have buoyancy chambers 16 and 17 (divided into water-tight sections by bulki heads, not shown) extending around their respective peripheries, and are provided with thwarts 18 and 19 as usual. In other.

with the ordinary fittings of a ships-boat;

. but in addition, the lower half 13 is fitted 19 as indicated.

with a keel-board 20 which extends, in the medium vertical longitudinal plane, inthe space between the deck 15 and lower thwarts The boat is widest at the level of the deck 15, at which level the hull is surrounded by'a rubbing-strake 21, the

deck itself extending throughout the entire breadth of the hull so as to'enable the boat to offer the greatest practicable resistance to crushing in the transverse direction.

Toward each end of the boat, the deck 15 is pierced with two holes from which extend, in opposite directions respectively, venttubes and 23, each tube connecting one of the holes in the deck with a similar hole in one of the thwarts, whereby the outer end of the tube is securely braced. As the thwarts in each half of the boat are well above the level of the water when, the boat being afloat, that half is uppermost, it follows that the outer or thwart end of each venttube is above the level of the water under the same conditions, but is submerged when that half'of the boat through which it extends is inverted. At about the level of the deck, each vent-tube 22 and 23 is furnished with a flap-valve 2& (Fig. 5) which is hinged as at 25 so as to be capable of closing against a leather or rubber seating, the relative positions of the parts being such that when the boat is afloat, the valve of each upwardly-extending vent-tube is capable of opening upward so as to allow the air to escape from beneath the deck 15, whereas the valve of each downwardly-extending vent-tube is capable of closing upward so as to prevent any water which rises through the tube from gaining access to the deck.

. Owing to the rough usage to which a boat is liable to be subjected, the valves are apt to leak, so that dependence cannot be placed upon their closing tightly by automatic action alone. Moreover, inasmuch as the valve of a downwardly-extending venttube tends (when free) to open by gravity,

its automatic closure can only be effected by a somewhat strong upward rush of water, so that (however accurately the valve may fit) if the valve should fail to close automatically with suiiicientpromptitude, a considerable quantity of water may pass beyond 7 In the example illustrated (see Figs. 5

and 6), the closing device comprises a rod 27 extending upward from the face of the valve, to which the rod is pivotally attached as at 28 so as to be capable of swinging in the plane of motion of the valve, the rod 27 extending through a bridge 29 which spans the top of the tube and has a slot 30 to give passageto the rod during the movement of the valve. The rod 27 is screw-threaded (for a part of its length) to receive a fly-nut 31 which is adapted to bear against the upper or outer side of the bridge 29, so that the positive closure of the valve can be readily effected by screwing down the nut 31 against the bridge. The rod 27 is prolonged outward beyond the nut a distance somewhat greater than the depth of the nut, this prolongation 32 being devoid of a thread and also of less diameter than the threaded part, so that if, after the valve has been positively shut as above described, the boat should be inverted, the opening of the'valve can be quickly effected by unscrewingthe nut 31 un til it drops down alongthe unthreaded portion 32 of the rod, which terminates in a head or collar 33 whereby the complete escape and loss of the nut are prevented.

It will be seen that, by making the length of the rod 27 with its prolongation 32 sufficient only to allow of the valve 24: opening by turning aboutits pivot-pin 25 so far as is necessary to permit free escape of air' from beneath the deck when the valve opens upward, the upward closing of the valve by a rise of water in the tube y (when the boat is afloat with the tube extending downward) is facilitated, for the reasonrthat the valve, being enabled to open only partially, extends more or less transversely of the tube and consequently hangs from its hinge-pin 25 in a position to be encountered by a rush of water upward through the vent'tube.

It is evident that when the valve, previously shut from above the deck, is required to be opened as above described after the inversion of the boat, the nut 31 will now be at the lower or inaccessible side of the deck, In order to afford temporary access to the nut in such circumstances, a trap-door 34 is provided in the deck in close proximity to the valve, this door, which is hinged to the deck as at 35 so as to open upward when the corresponding vent-tube extends downward, being preferably only large enough to give passage to a mans arm, and being provided with means whereby it may be kept normally shut and be temporarily opened from the upper side of the deck when the nut 31 of the corresponding valve is at the lower side of the deck. For this purpose the trap-door 34L may have pivoted to it at the back or outer surface, as indicated at 36, a bar 37 which is rotatable in the plane of the door and which has at its ends transverse notches adapted to engage under nuts 39 which work on a pair of screws fixed in and projecting from the deck at the side thereof opposite to the nut 81.

In order to avoid the necessity of reaching down through the trap-doors, which, while open, might allow the deck to become flooded, means may be provided, preferably in proximity to each tube 22 and 23, for allowing the escape of the air from beneath the deck notwithstanding that those valves 24 which should otherwise be then opened may be left positively shut. Such means may consist in each case of a supplementary upright vent-tube 40 which may extend alongside of each tube 22 and 23 so as, like these tubes, to connect (in each case) a hole in the deck with a similar hole in one of the thwarts; each such supplementary vent-tube being of comparatively small diameter and having its outer or thwart end normally closed by a screw-plug 41 which, when the tube extends upward, can be readily removed. Each screw-plug 41 should be attached to the boat by means of alength of light chain such as indicated at The supplementary vent-tubes 40 may be provided I in addition to the trap-doors 34, so as to be capable of being used in case of emergency, as for example when the trap-doors cannot be opened conveniently, or when difficulty is experienced in unscrewing the fiy-nuts 31.

What is claimed is 1. In a reversible boat, the combination of a deck fixed midway in the depth of the hull, two upright vent-tubes leading in opposite directions respectively from holes in the deck, and a valve in each vent-tube near the deck end thereof for controlling the passage through the tube, each valve being adapted to open only in the direction in which its tube extends.

2. In a reversible boat, the combination of a deck fixed midway in the depth of the hull, two upright vent-tubes leading in opposite directions respectively from holes in the deck, a valve in each vent-tube near the deck end thereof for controlling the passage through the tube, each valve being adapted to open only in the direction in which its tube extends, and positively-acting means for closing each valve at will.

3. In a reversible boat, the combination of a deck fixed midway in the depth of the hull, two upright vent-tubes leading in opposite directions respectively from holes in the deck, a valve in each vent-tube near the deck end thereof for controlling the passage through the tube, each valve being adapted to open only in the direction in which its tube extends, positively-acting means for closing each valve at will, and means for releasing at will the air-pressure beneath the deck when the boat is afloat.

at. In a reversible boat, the combination of a deck fixed midway in the depth of the hull, two upright vent-tubes leading in opposite directions respectively from holes in the deck, a Valve in each vent-tube near the deck end thereof for controlling the passage through the tube, each valve being adapted to open only in the direction in which its tube extends, positively-acting means for closing each valve at will, said means being operable from that side of the deck opposite to that whereat the corresponding vent-tube is situated, and a trap-door in the deck for affording temporary access to each valveclosing means from that side of the deck at which the corresponding vent-tube is situated.

5. In a reversible boat, the combination of a deck fixed midway in the depth of the hull, two upright vent-tubes leading in opposite directions respectively from holes in the deck, a valve in each vent-tube near the deck end thereof for controlling the passage through the tube, each valve being adapted to open only in the direction in which its tube extends, positively-acting.

means for closing each valve at will, said means being operable from that side of the deck opposite to that whereat the corresponding vent-tube is situated, two supplementary venttubes leading in opposite directions respectively from holes in the deck, and means for closing the outer ends of said supplementary vent-tubes at will.

THOMAS HERBERT GASKIN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

